Just a few weeks remain for young people in Washington to enter the 2018 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest, an essay and video competition offering substantial cash prizes and an opportunity to meet eminent jurists and legal practitioners.

The contest is open to students in grades 9-12 in public, private and parochial schools or home-schooled students of equivalent grade status. The deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on April 1, 2018. More information is available at http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/civicscontest.

The theme of the contest is “The 14th Amendment 150 Years After Ratification: What Does Equal Protection Mean to Students?” Students are challenged to write an essay or produce a video focusing on how Congress and the federal courts have applied the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to public education, whether in admissions, classroom instruction or athletics.

The contest is cosponsored by the Courts and Community Committee of the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit and the federal courts in nine western states, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

A total of $7,000 in cash prizes will be awarded with the top three finishers in both the essay and video competitions receiving $2,000 for 1st place, $1,000 for 2nd place and $500 for 3rd place.

The 1st-place winners along with a parent or guardian also will be invited to attend the 2108 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Anaheim, California. The conference is an annual gathering of federal judges and lawyers who preside and practice in the federal courts. At least one U.S. Supreme Court justice typically participates in the conference and usually meets with the contest winners.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington will conduct a local contest to select western Washington finalists for the circuit competition. The local contest is open to students residing in Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Thurston, Wahkiakum and Whatcom counties. For more information about the district contest, please contact: Johanna Moody-Gatlin, (206) 909-8453 / Johanna_Moody@wawd.uscourts.gov.

– U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington